Clothespin



Feb. 25, 1958'.

R. C. L EE CLOTHESPIN Filed May 9, 1955 v INVENTOR.

Ramon C. L ee @1 en-i' Y fi ,s24,35

StiltfiS .BatentaQ C3 "hastenedrains;i952

,treyerfsible, it c. it may, .be secured, to,. a clothesline with..'-...,either,of..the1 flat surfaces-.ofbody 10 engaging the line.."Thei. lower, portion of theibody :10, is prov-idedgwith a 3 5 1"ti-rshaped slo r t e .l g; 16. .of-, W- intercepts -the. r gj ripheryof; the ,body, jltl and, communicates Sat its ,inward CLOTHESHN end withlater open' as! 1. 11 1.1 11 ?.p iiif l dfi "Ramolf'CiLee,"'Beaverton,fOr eg.; ,a'ssignor to'T'Beaman j bgdimentillustrated,the, lateral ,ppeningsf17,,18,,are ;re-

-i a 'P ofloilegoll stricted slightly adjacent;thep openi gr@1,6,j,for,,pprposes 1 .7 -te plained. more .fu y hereinafiter- ApphcauopMay91955 Senal NQLSM 171 10 LIhe "clothespin, described hereinbefore, mayvbev,,con 4 Claims. .(Cl. 24-.1I37) .structed vfofgany .suitableresilient material, ,such; as sheet ,gmetai or; synthetic gplasticof,thelthermopla'stic type. 1,.The

f, 'lattertispreferred foritsadaptabilityto mass production techniques,itsglightv weight, ,inertness, rand, attractiveap- This inventionpertainsto clothespins, and relates par- ,15 pearance. ln eitherflcase,.when the, clothespin is, pro- "ticularly to the novel construction of a'clothespinby ,yided,,wi th, but asinglepair ,ofprojecting ,flanges '13,-14,

which to securesclothingto a,line,or hanger for drying or ',it may=b,produeed from sheet material by atsimplestampstorage. ing operation inwhich the shapeof .body,10,.the.,openings fit is a principalobject 'ofthe.prese'nt.invcntiomtoipro- 11, 16,,11;.and,,1 are,,formedtandttheitflanges .,1 3,,-14 are vide a clothespin'of,unitaryconstruction having resiliently ztigformed by heiidipglateralvextensions of. tongue .12.

' displaceable sections which funct on frictionallyloiengageAlternatively, the ,,lclo,thespin.,may.- bevconstructed. of aclothesline.. or hanger .at ajpluralityjof, POLIItSLIQMi,synthetic,.tplastics.bynconventionalinjection ton vacuum "surestability ofsupport.andLto,inhibit;lateral.f.displacemolding',,,tec,hniques. MQBY Suclrprocesses, both. pairs; of ment. projecting'l'tflanges mayu bt; provided,and. ,the entire .struc- Another important object, 'ofvthisiinvention.isthe into- 25,, v.tur e,producedcas.anintegral ,unit. vision or anclutnebpln which may PfiIIQIIIi. tne,,dua1.=1.un r Q.ReferringInowJo'figure5..of.,.thej,drawing,wherein is tionof securingfclothes toaclotheslineandtof. supporti g .fifiilustrated; themrocednre by .wl1ich,the.clothespinisse other clothes: 1hdpei1 ently. .offlthe) clothesline.cured to..a..clothsline.,20 or clothes,hanger,. the clothespin furtherimportannobjectnof this.,invention is,to..,pro 1 body,10.,is ,grasped.atits,upper...end,,betwfin..the.fingers,

"'vide a clothespin: which may be. constructed fromagsulgler;3tlusowthat, one.surface .of.,the, .body..below.;to,ngue;12.Trests heet of fl xwlesma rialn r m yn eu ns ru t dite Masainst'the clotheslinelt). Pressure isthenrexertedinrthe syntheticplastic materials by conventional molding techlj directiongtovvard;the,line. ,so..thatithe tqngue..12; is.;dis niques. t placediromihesbody10, whereby totplacetheiclothesline The oin fi h r.obiectsmandadvantag0f the 2Q,b twe n-the. abuttingsurface, ofgthe. body luandthe presentinvention-will appear trom the' following detai1ed ,35 edges of theprojecting flanges 13, 14, as shown. ,jlhe

tadescri'ption lakencin.COHDECtiOllEWiIhJhG accompanyingc1othesp1n,,1stthen ;forced,.,downwardly,,.until,;the clothes-,\,drawing-,1in1wl1ich:. ineis brought intoengagement,withthe.arcuatehrecesses Figure .l. is aplan .view.-of a.clothespin embodyingthe ;,15f,,as, shoyvninilfigure4.

tfeatureswf the..present.invention; I, Io,remoye,the,clothespintfromithe line; then ppenedge Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along theline 2-2.i;--49 ,,,Tof, the, clo.thespin-.and,,the,.lower.edgeof,.tongue ;12,are

in Figure l; grasped between .theiingers and .the tongueispulledawayFigure/3', is a front. elevation showing thetlclothespin j; frombodr10..suflicientlyto releaselthe.line20.from.the --.=securedY.-to:aclothesline randy-functioning tonsnpport a .,v ,arcuate., recesses.,...,whereupon:.the.clothespiny,-may;be

garment independently of said line; removed upwardly away from the line.

Figure 4 is a side view of the clothespin as viewed from It will beunderstood that clothes may be draped over the right in Figure 3;clothesline 20 in the usual manner and secured thereto Figure 5 is aside view showing the manner in which the by attaching a plurality ofclothespins in the manner clothespin is secured to a clothesline; andpreviously described. In addition, the clothespin functions Figure 6 isa side view showing the manner in which conveniently as a support forgarments, independently the clothespin is removed from a clothesline. ofthe clothesline. Referring to Figure 3 of the drawing,

Referring particularly to Figure l of the drawing, the the clothespin isshown secured to a clothesline 20, or a clothespin is shown to comprisea flat body portion 10 of conventional wire clothes hanger. A garmentmay then substantially oval shape. It will be understood, of course, besupported from the body 10 by means of the T-shaped that various othershapes, such as round, rectangular, slot. For example, in the ease of agarment having or others, may be chosen, if desired. in the uppercentral shoulder straps, a pair of clothespins are secured in portion ofthe body 10 there is providedan opening 11, spaced relation on the line20 and one shoulder strap into which extends a resilient tongue 12. Tothe lateral 21 inserted in the T-shaped slot of each clothespin. Otheredges of the tongue are secured the flanges 13, 14, which articles ofclothing having a loop section or a buttonhole project outwardly,substantially normal to the plane may be supported in similar mannerfrom the T-shaped of the body 10. slot, as will be apparent. Due to therestriction of the As best shown in Figure 2, the flanges 13, 14 curveoutlateral openings 17, 18 and the narrowness of the slot wardly fromthe bottom end of tongue 12 and are each 16, the possibility ofinadvertent release of the clothing provided at their upper edge with adownward indentation is reduced to a minimum.

15. This indentation is preferably arcuate in shape to The provision ofthe T-shaped slot afiords an additional conform to the conventionalround clothesline. The advantage, as follows: A pair of spacedclothespins may flanges 13, 14 terminate below the upper ends of the beemployed to secure a large article of clothing, such central opening 11to permit a clothesline or hanger rod as a sheet, to a clothesline 20,and the T-shaped slots to be inserted therebetween. employed to supportother clothing, such as a garment of As shown in Figure 2 of thedrawing, a second pair of delicate fabric. In this manner, the delicatefabric is flanges 13, 14' may be provided to extend outwardly supportedagainst the larger cloth, whereby to prevent from the lateral edges oftongue 12 in the direction opdamage to the delicate fabric due towhipping by the posite flanges 13, 14. In this manner the clothespin i8wind.

From the foregoing, it is believed to be apparent thatv the line. Thisfeature is of particular advantage when a" pair of such clothespins aremounted on a line or clothes hanger in spaced relation for purposes ofsupporting a garment from the T-shaped slots.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes inthe details of construction described hereinbefore may be made withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of this invention. For example, asimple flange may be provided for the pair 13, 14 or the space betweenthe pair of flanges may be filled in to provide a single flange ofsubstantial width. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the abovedescription is primarily illustrative of the invention and is not to beconsidered as limiting the scope thereof.

Having now described my. invention and the manner in which the same maybe used, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A clothespin comprising a fiat body having an opening therein, a flatresilient elongated tongue member secured to the body and havinga freeend extending downwardly into said opening for movement transversely ofthe plane of said opening, the body and tongue member normally beingcoplanar, and elongated flange means on the tongue extending outwardlytherefrom substantially normal to the plane of the tongue in thelongitudinal direction of the tongue and terminating at its upper end aspaced distance below the upper end of the opening, the flange meansbeing tapered and being wider at said upper end whereby to receive aclothesline or the like between said flange means and the upper end ofthe opening.

2. A clothespin comprising a flat body having an opening therein, a flatresilient elongated tongue member secured to the body and having a freeend extending downwardly into said opening for movement transversely ofthe plane of said opening, the body and tongue mem-" ber normally beingcoplanar, and elongated flange means on the tongue extending outwardlyfrom both sides of the tongue substantially normal to the plane of thetongue a 4' in the longitudinal direction of the tongue and terminatingat its upper end a spaced distance below the upper endof the opening,the flange means being tapered and being wider at said upper end wherebyto receive a clothesline or the like between said flange means and theupper end of the opening.

3. A clothespin comprising a flat body having an opening therein, a flatresilient elongated tongue member secured to the body and having a freeend extending downwardly into said opening for movement transversely ofthe plane of said opening, the body and tongue member normally beingcoplanar, and elongated flange meanson thelateral edges of the tongueextending outwardly therefrom substantially normal to the plane of thetongue in the longitudinal direction of the tongue and terminating atits upper end a spaced distance below the upper end of the opening, theflange means being tapered and being wider at said upper end whereby toreceive a clothesline or the like between said flange means and theupper end of the opening and to stabilize the clothespin relative tosaid clothesline.

4. A clothespin comprising a flat body having an opening therein, a flatresilient elongated tongue member secured to the body and having a freeend extending downwardly into said opening for movement transversely ofthe plane of said opening, the body and tongue member normally beingcoplanar, and elongated flange means on the lateral edges of the tongueextending outwardly from both sides of the tongue substantially normalto the plane of the tongue in the longitudinal direction of the tongueand terminating at its upper end a spaced distance below the upper endof the opening, the flange means being tapered and being wider at saidupper end whereby to receive a clothesline or the like between saidflange means and the upper end of the opening and to stabilize theclothespin relative to said clothesline.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,878,861 Krasnow Sept. 20, 1932 1,886,882 Huber Nov. 8, 1932 2,011,634Hirsh Aug. 20, 1935 2,547,349 Tegarty Apr. 3, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS514,010 Great Britain Oct. 27, 1939 666,721 Great Britain Feb. 20, 1952

